On Friday afternoon I hosted my first play date. Since I like to entertain, cook and bake, I enjoyed the planning and preparation for this small event almost as much as I enjoyed spending the afternoon talking, eating and socializing with friends.

Play date is an expression used mostly in the US for a pre-arranged time for kids to get together to play. These “dates” can be great for helping children learn to socialize, share, and just have fun with other kids their age. When children are very young, most parents stay for the play date and use the time to share resources and make new friends.

To encourage and facilitate conversation, I invited a small group—about five parents and seven children. Like my son, most of the kids were barely a year old. We had crawlers, walkers and one who impressed us all as he took his first few magical steps towards his independence. It was fun to see the little ones interact with each other and nice to have time to talk to other parents. I’m already looking forward to the next one!

Welcome

I’m Martine. Welcome to my site about the art of living well. I'm a global public health professional who loves to travel and cook and to me, cooking is one of the most interesting ways to bring the world home. It's also a wonderful metaphor for life as it requires an open mind, patience, flexibility and humility. I enjoy developing and sharing whole-food, plant-based recipes inspired by a love and appreciation of different cultures, healthy lifestyles, and cuisines from around the world. My greatest inspiration? My little guy you see in the photo above. I aspire to raise a happy, healthy and kind "petit" citizen of the world.